Improvement in machines for feeding paper sheets



L. HARLOW. Machine for Feeding Paper Sheets.

Patented May 6, 1879.

WQ/izwvag U I E-D STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

LUOIUS HARLOW, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT lN MACH IN'ES FOR FEEDING PAPER SHEETS.

-' Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 215,058, dated May 6, 1879; application filed December 21, 1878.

To all whom it may concern: pivoted lever, h, connected with an arm of Be it known that I, LUGIUS HARLOW, of the rock-shaft N, the forward end of this sep- Holyoke, in the State of Massachusetts, have arator m! projecting a little over the platform invented a new and useful Improvement in P when moved into its most-forward position. Machines for Feeding Paper Sheets; and that A main separator, h, is also arranged to move the following is a 'full, clear, and exact deto and fro upon the platform A, and this sepscription thereof, reference being had to the arator is provided with a vertical piece or accompanying drawings, makingapart of this pusher, n, and this separator is actuated by specification, and to the letters of reference an arm, n, of the rock-shaft N. The rod a, marked thereon. havingthe pad or friction-starter a attached The object of my invention is to feed sheets to its free end just above the platform P, is of paper to any machine in which such paper actuated by a revolving shaft, J3, this rod a, is to be operated upon, such as counting, foldthe separator-slide h, and pusher n being all ing, printing, calendering, ruling, and many fully described in my before-mentioned Letother operations; and this invention is an imte'rs Patent of September 10, 1878. To the provement upon that described in Letters Patpusher it, however, or to any part of the mechent N 0. 207,805, granted to me September 10, anisfn which may be desirable or most con- 1878; and it consists, first, of two friction venient, I attach a rod, f, which has .a piece starters and two separators combined, for the or trip, f pivoted thereto, and whose forward purpose of more perfectly and more uniformly end is provided with a friction-pad, f exseparating the uppermost sheet in the pile tending down sufficiently to touch the topfrom those below; and it consists, second, of most sheet in the pile of paper laid upon the an auxiliary starter combined with. the sepa vertically-moving platform P." This rod f rator, by which thin sheets of paper are each should be sufficiently elastic to readily adjust more surely and uniformly moved forward the pad f to the paper when the rod' extends from the pile on the platform, all which will forward in its natural position; but when the be more fully hereinafter described. separator and rod move back the trip f in Figure I is a perspective view of my invendragging along the paper is caused to assume tion. Fig. II is a plan view of the same; and a vertical position, where it is held, and thus Fig. III is a partial vertical section at line I raises the pad, so that the sheet may not be of Fig. II. moved in the wrong direction.

In the drawings, A is a platform supported The gage b is bent at its upper part, so that by a frame, A, with a rock-shaft, N, having its end may rest upon the platform P or upon bearings in the frame, and operatedby a rod, the pile of paper placed thereon, and it also I, connecting an arm on shaftNwith a crankextends down and is connected at its lower arm on the shaft B, the general features and end with one end of a lever, 73, whose other mechanism of the machine being much the end engages with a pawl, E. This gage b is sameasaredescribed in LettersPatent granted raised by a bar, t, connected with an arm of to me September 10, 1878. To the frame A, the rock-shaft N, the slot in the upper end of at e, is pivoted an elbow or lever, a to one the bar 1? allowing the gage to drop more or arm of which is attached a rod, 9, connecting less, as is required, according to the height of it with an arm of the rock-shaft N, by which the topmost sheet of paper. If this is too high, it is actuated, and to the other end ofthe elbow the gage will not drop so low, which causes is attached a pad or friction-starter, a which the pivoted lever i to throw the pawl E out of is so attached as to be just above the movable engagement with the ratchet wheel F, atplatform supported on the upper end of the tached to the screw F; but if the paper is not vertical screw F, upon which the pile of paper fed up sufficiently high, the gage drops lower is placed. A separator, m, is arraljigedto have and permits the lever i to move the pawl into a limited sliding movement along the top of engagement with the ratchet, and the paper the fixed platform A, and is actuated-by a is then moved up higher. This operation is precisely the same as is described in the Letters Patent before mentioned, dated September 10, 1878.

The operation of the mechanism for moving the sheets from the pile is as follows: A pile of paper being laid upon the platform, and the shafts B and B being made to revolve, if the topmost sheet is in position to be taken off, the end of the gage b rests upon the sheet, holding it firmly, while the friction pad it pushes the corner of the sheet beneath it inward, raising that part of the topmost sheet which is just in front of the separator m a little above the pile. This separator m then moves forward beneath that part of the sheet, and at the same time the gage b is raised from the paper. The friction-starter a then moves down and forward upon that part of the sheet which is above the separator m, causing a larger portion of the sheet to bend upward, and the separator m then moves forward beneath the sheet, the pad or starter f which rests upon the paper, and the pusher n hearing against the rear edge of the sheet, operating to move the latter ofl the pile sufiiciently far to be caught between the rolls M and be carried away. As the separator moves back again the trip f dragging upon the paper in the pile, is moved into a vertical position, and the rod f and pad f are slightly raised, so that the sheet is not moved from its position until it is properly separated from the pile as before.

In practice it is found that in feeding ordinarily-thick sheets of paper the pusher n is quite sufficient to move the sheet from the pile; but for feeding thin or very flexible sheets the auxiliary starter f 2 greatly assists the operation of feeding uniformly.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination, in a machine for feeding paper, of the friction-starters a and a and the separators m and m, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, in a machine for feedin g paper, of the friction-starters a and a, the separators m and m, and the gage b, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a machine for feeding paper, of the friction-starters a and a, the separators m and m, and the auxiliary starter f operating substantially as described.

4. The combination, in a machine for feeding paper, of the frictionstarters a and a, the separators m and m, and the pusher '12, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in a machine for feedin g paper, of the friction-starters a and a, theseparators m and m, the pusher n, and the auxiliary starter f substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. The combination, in a machine for feeding paper, of the friction-starters a? and a, the separators m and m, the pusher n, the auxiliary starter f and the gage b, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. In a machine for feeding paper, the gage 1), adapted to rest upon the paper and, by its connection with a pawl, to regulate the upward movement of the paper-platform, and also adapted, in combination with a friction starter or pad, a, to fold or bend the paper so that it may be easily separated and removed from the pile, substantially as set forth.

LUOIUS HARLOW.

Witnesses:

T. A. CURTIS, A. D. COPELAND. 

